New Hanover County Health & Human Services vote unanimously to once again require masks indoors

NEW HANOVER COUNTY (WWAY) — You will soon be required to put on a mask if you’re planning to head indoors anywhere in New Hanover County. They’re making a return due to rising COVID numbers.

Public Health Director David Howard said talking about masking again in August is not something he anticipated.

As the vaccines came out earlier in the year, Howard says public health staff was hopeful the virus would be mitigated by July 4 because of the high vaccination rates. However, as the vaccination rates took a nosedive and cases began to increase, they became concerned.

That’s no coincidence, Howard says it’s a direct cause and effect. The low vaccination rates are fueling the resurgence of the virus.

“We don’t have specific percentages of how many people have the delta variant versus the original versus some other variant,” Howard said. “All we know is we’re seeing people in the hospital and we’re seeing people dying. Children, 40-somethings, not just old people.”

Howard says the mandate isn’t about taking away freedoms, it’s about protecting the public from a dangerous virus. Still yet, not everyone is a fan of the new mandate.

New Hanover County resident Matt Rhodes says he doesn’t feel anyone should be forced to wear a mask, whether in public or in school.

“If a parent wants their child to wear a mask, and that’s their prerogative, then I don’t argue with them on that,” Rhodes said. “That’s their right. But I’d like to have my right to be able to tell my son, ‘hey, you don’t have to wear a mask if you don’t want to’. Same thing with my daughter.”

Rhodes says he isn’t against people using masks, just against being required to put them on.

“I just would like for the school board and the governor to say, ‘look, it’s a choice,'” Rhodes added. “For every parent to decide whether or not their child should or should not wear a mask.”

While many around the Cape Fear share Rhode’s view on masks, Board of Commissioners Chair Julia Olson-Boseman says it’s not that simple.

“We’ve got a quarter-million people in this county we need to be concerned with,” Olson-Boseman said. “Not just one or two people not wanting to wear a mask.”

Olson-Boseman points out the COVID cases are nearing pre-vaccine levels, and this is a step that needs to be taken.

“Over at Novant, New Hanover Regional there’s two floors over there with COVID patients,” Olson-Boseman said. “There’s one to three people dying a day.”

Olson-Boseman says the mask requirement should remain in place until the pandemic is more under control.

“It’s getting overcrowded with COVID patients,” Olson-Boseman said. “People are dying again. And it’s something we can do to prevent it. So wear a mask, starting at 5:00 on Friday.”

Olson-Boseman says the board will check updated COVID numbers on a week-by-week basis to determine when masks can become optional again.